Electric saw safety guard retractor



Dec. 6, 1960 v. w. RICKFORD 2,963,056

ELECTRIC SAW SAFETY GUARD RETRACTOR Filed June 5, 1958 fa w FILE: .2

INVENTOR. VERA/04! M R/CKFwED ww ww 4 fromvEys United States PatentO2,963,056 v ELECTRIC SAW SAFETY GUARD, RETRACTOR Vernon W. Rickford,1905 th Ave. S.,

' Minneapolis, Minn.

Filed June s, 1958, Ser. No. 740,149

2 Claims. or. 143-159 The invention herein has relation to a new andimproved construction and arrangement for retracting a.

Fig. 1 is a side elevational view, partially broken away and partiallyin section, of an electric saw including retracting mechanism madeaccording to the invention;

Fig. 2 is an'end elevational view of the disclosure of ;Fig. l as itwould appear from the right; anda Fig. 3 is a fragmentary view,partially in elevation'a'nd partially in section, detailing features andcharacteristics of the new and improved retracting mechanism of theinvention.

Referring to the drawing and the numerals of reference thereon, 10denotes the base of an electric saw and 11 represents a circular bladethereof suitably and conveniently rotatably mounted, as at 12, on aframe upon said base. The circular blade includes cutting teeth 13 andis to be rotated in the direction of the arrow in Fig. 1. Said circularblade is substantially in perpendicular relation to the base of theelectric saw at a side thereof and a portion of the circular bladeextends to position below said base, as disclosed in said Fig. 1 and inFig. 2.

A curvilinear upper guard 14, part-circular in cross section, for thecircular blade 11, suitably and conveniently supported on the frame ofthe electric saw, is in spaced covering and protecting relation to thecutting teeth 13 on an upper peripheral portion of said circular blade.

A manipulating handle 15 of the circular saw, situated upwardly of theupper guard 14 at a side thereof and in a vertical plane including thebase 10, includes rearward and forward ends integral, as at 16, with arearward and an intermediate portion of the frame. A body of themanipulating handle is in spaced relation to said frame.

Spaced, parallel rigid strips 17, in perpendicular relation to the base10, are secured to opposite side surfaces of a forward portion of themanipulating handle and extend forwardly thereof. A finger controlswitch on said manipulating handle is designated 38.

A lower guard 18 for the circular blade 11, normally in spaced coveringand protecting relation to cutting teeth 13 on a lower peripheralportion of said circular blade, includes an elongated circumferentialportion, partcircular in cross-section, and an inwardly extending flange19 rotatably mounted, as at 20, on and about the axis for said circularblade. The inwardly extending flange 19 of the lower guard 18 isintegral with an inner side edge of the elongated circumferentialportion of said lower guard, and the lower guard is of less width thanis the upper guard 14 to lie between the opposite side portions of saidupper guard in clearing relation thereto. Said lower guard issubstantially in perpendicular relation to the base 10 and theperipheral portion of the upper guard is spaced at greater distance fromthe axis for the Patented Dec. 6, 1960 inwardly extending flange of thelower guard than is the peripheral surface of said lower guard.

A coil spring 21, having one of its ends attached, as at 22, to theframe of the electric saw and its other end attached, as at 23, to thelower guard, normally resiliently retains said lower guard in spacedcovering and protecting relation to cutting teeth on the lowerperipheral portion of the circular blade, as in Fig. 1 of the drawing. Astop element 24, engageable by a forward edge of the inwardly extendingflange 19 of the lower guard, limits the extent to which said lowerguard can swing forwardly, in counterclockwise direction as shown.

Means, denoted generally at 25, is included for adjusting the angularrelationship of the base 10 and the circular blade 11. The means 25forms no part of the present invention.

An electric saw of construction as hereinbefore def scribed is wellknown to the art. In practice, the lower guard, such as 18, of theelectric saw normally is rotated. aginSt force of a resilient means,such as the coil spring 21, thereof from a position where in spacedcovering and protecting relation to cutting teeth on the lowerperipheral portion of a circular blade, such as 11, as in full lines inFig. 1, to a position where said lower peripheral portion isexposed, asin dotted lines in said Fig. 1 merely by advancement of thelower forwardend of said lower guard into the work. The coil spring 21 operates toreturn the lower guard to its normal position upon release of said lowerguard from the work.

It is essential, in some instances of practical operation of a circularsaw, that the lower guard, such as 18, thereof be manually rotated fromposition where in spaced covering and protecting relation to the loweror cutting portion of the circular blade, such as 11, to position whereclear of said lower or cutting portion. The novel and improvedconstruction and arrangement of the invention is for manually rotatingthe lower guard 18 from its operative position, as in full lines in Fig.1 of the drawing, to its inoperative position, as in dotted lines insaid Fig. 1, against force of the coil spring 21, or other resilientmeans.

The midportion of a shaft 26, substantially parallel to the base 10, isrotatably mounted, as at 27, in the spaced, parallel strips 17, andopposite end portions, denoted 28 and 29, respectively, of said shaftextend to position beyond said strips, respectively. Such shaft isdisposed generally between the saw arbor and the handle. A crank arm 30is in perpendicular relation to and rigid with the end portion 28 of theshaft 26, and a lever arm 31 is in perpendicular relation to said shaftand integral with its end portion 29. The lever arm 31 extends forwardlyfrom the exterior end of the end portion 29 of the shaft 26, and thecrank arm 30 extends upwardly from the exterior end of the end portion28 of said shaft.

A link 32, movable in a vertical elongated slot 33 in the upper guard,is supported, as at 34, for movement of rotation on an outer end portionof the lever arm 31 to extend downwardly of the shaft 26. A lower end ofthe link 32 is pivotally attached, as at 35, to the upper end of a hookmember 36, and the lower end of said hook member is pivotally attached,as at 37, to a part of the flange 19 of the lower guard 18 at a locationin spaced relation to the axis of or for said lower guard. The lever arm31 and the link 32 are to be retained in fixed angular relation to eachother in direction longitudinally of said lever arm.

It will be evident that the lower guard 18 will be swung from the fullline position to the dotted line position in which disclosed in Fig. 1of the drawing in response to manual rearward swinging movement of thecrank arm 30, through the instrumentality of the lever arm 31, the link32 and the hook member 36, and the coil spring 21 will return said lowerguard to its normal position upon release of said crank arm. The crankarm is accessible at a location adjacent to the manipulating handle 15to be manually actuable by the fingers of the hand that retains saidmanipulating handle, leaving the other hand free for other usual andnecessary manual operations.

What is claimed is:

1. A manual saw guard retracting actuator for a handheld portable powercircular saw frame having a saw arbor rotating about an axis extendingtransversely of a pistol grip handle and a saw blade guard mounted onthe frame for circumferential swinging movement concentric with the sawarbor axis upward toward the handle in retracting from a positioncovering the cutting segment of the saw blade, which saw guardretracting actuator comprises a shaft rotatable about its axis,extending substantially parallel to the saw arbor, and disposed at thesame side of the saw arbor as the handle, a first arm in fixed angularrelation to said shaft, extending generally toward the saw arbor andswingable generally in a plane transversely of the arbor by rotation ofsaid shaft, means connecting the swinging end of said first arm and thesaw guard for effecting retracting movement of the guard by swinging ofsaid arm, and a second arm projecting transversely from said shaft to aposition alongside the handle for voluntary manual swinging to rotatesaid shaft in guard-retracting direction.

2. A manual saw guard retracting actuator for a handheld portable powercircular saw frame having a saw arbor rotating about an axis extendingtransversely of a pistol grip handle and a saw blade guard mounted onthe frame for circumferential swinging movement concentric with the sawarbor axis upward toward the handle in retracting from a positioncovering the cutting segment of the saw blade, which saw guardretracting actuator comprises a shaft rotatable about its axis,extending substantially parallel to the saw arbor, and disposedgenerally between the saw arbor and the handle, a first arm in fixedangular relation to said shaft at one end thereof, extending generallytoward the saw arbor and swingable generally in a plane transversely ofthe arbor by rotation of said shaft, means connecting the swinging endof said first arm and the saw guard for eifecting retracting movement ofthe guard by swinging of said arm, a second arm projecting transverselyof said shaft from the other end portion thereof and extending generallytoward the handle and away from the arbor, and a thumb-engageableprojection extending from said second arm transversely thereof to aposition alongside the handle for voluntary manual swinging to rotatesaid shaft in guard-retracting direction.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,102,018 Dodds June 30, 1914 2,342,052 Jimerson et al. Feb. 15, 19442,737,985 Utz Mar. 13, 1956

